I did not think I would ever need a service like All Seasons Homecare. When the time came, I figured that we would take care of my mother-in-law ourselves. We only lived a half mile away from her and could check on her whenever we needed to, take meals over and make sure that she was taken to her various appointments. Then last year hit, and life got complicated. My mother-in-law was in and out of the hospital. If we did not check on her every day, there was a possibility she might not eat “because she did not feel like it” or it was possible that her “brain fog” (build-up of ammonia levels) would become such that she was not making rational choices. Just when I thought that things could not get crazier, my husband (who had been doing the lion’s share of taking care of my mother-in-law) was admitted to the hospital. I was trying to work, take care of my husband and mother-in-law and keep things sane for my two kids. I was panicking, and I needed help fast!!!
All Seasons Homecare was recommended to me by a social worker friend who had had very positive experiences with the organization in her daily visits with people who used their services. As she said to me, “they are just simply the BEST, and you know I would not send you anywhere but the BEST”. She was absolutely right! Since I needed services ASAP, they set us up with round the clock care right away, and had someone at her house that evening to take the first shift. The person that came out was kind, considerate and caring and took care of business. (I would come to find out that every person that they would send our way had the same qualities).
Since my needs were so immediate, All Seasons was able to cover what I needed with various caregivers until we arrived at what would be our “regular schedule” with a consistent caregiver team. My mother in-law gradually got back to a place where she could take care of herself and we altered the schedule so that we still had caregivers, but not as many hours during the week. This pattern continued most of the year – my mother would be fine, then would need to be hospitalized due to her deterioration due to her chronic condition, so we went from needing 24 hour care to transitioning to less care as she was able to take care of herself. (Did I mention that my mother-in-law was VERY independent??!!).
I can’t imagine having to deal with my family and our scheduling nightmare – just as soon as we had something in place that was easy and everyone was happy with, we would have a need to change it. Heather Montgomery and Jenna Hughes took care of us in every way possible to accommodate our craziness! I can’t say enough about how reliable they were. Because we were never certain when or what time the hospital would release my mother-in-law, we had caregivers on standby that we were able to call upon if needed or cancel if she was not released that day. It was AMAZING the way they were able to cover us in terms of care. When you think about the number of people involved and the uncertainty in which they operated and that they were able to make sure that we had exactly the care we needed, it is an impressive feat! Please also note that they are on-call 24/7 and respond ASAP!!! Gracious is another word that I would associate with both Heather and Jenna. I never felt pressured to keep a schedule, and All Seasons never hinted at the amount of work that had gone into making something happen for me (and I know many times it was a LOT of work).
If they had just been reliable, gracious, or scheduling wizards, I would have been thrilled, but in addition to all that, they are genuinely kind and caring. Throughout the year both Jenna and Heather called to see how things were going, sent e-mails keeping me informed and sent texts to check on us. They always asked how they could help when we had some kind of twist or turn in our circumstances.
My mother in law was not always the easiest person to work with, and I was very impressed with the caregivers that took care of her in the last year. As I mentioned above, they were kind, considerate and caring and took care of business. The caregivers all had different personalities, but made sure that she was taken care of in the best possible way by allowing her her independence when she was capable and stepping in when she could not handle things by herself. I would like to acknowledge a particular caregiver, Shawndrell, who was not only a caregiver to my mother-in-law, but a trusted friend to her in a time when she really needed a friend. Shawndrell may have saved my mother-in-law’s life several times in the course of her care by being alert to her changes and calling us when she thought something was off (she was always right!), and we were able to get my mother-in-law the care that she needed, which added many months to her life.
All Seasons Homecare has earned my respect and trust and I would highly recommend them